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Facebook’s 100 Million Users: How Much are They Worth?August 26th, 2008 at 9:43 amSource:Mashable! Remember when MySpace announced it had 100 million users, exactly two years ago? It was a big deal, but critics pointed out that many of those user accounts were inactive, and active users are what really counts. Facebook, on the other hand, has always claimed they don’t sugarcoat their user numbers; they only count active accounts. If you choose to believe them, then today’s unofficial announcement - taken from Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook status update - that Facebook has 100 million users is perhaps even more significant than MySpace’s two year old milestone. Yes, MySpace got there first, but they had no platform and they had no clear vision - not when it comes to monetization, and not when it comes to organizing the chaos that is MySpace into something meaningful. Facebook hasn’t been the first or even the second social network, but they’ve managed to build this huge user base despite fierce competition; furthermore, their platform (although not without flaws) shows that they know where they want to take it from here. So, which one would you rather have: A user base that has grown spontaneously, virally, and largely because of sheer novelty, or a user base which you’ve carefully groomed, which is active and using your service because they find it better than the competition? Sure, MySpace has its advantages, like its enormous music community, but I’d say that Facebook’s got the upper hand when it comes to what’s really important: Vision. Their 100 million users may not yet justify the $15 billion valuation they’ve been blessed (or cursed) with, but it’s definitely more than just another meaningless number. —Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:iLike Sees Exponential Growth with Facebook AppMore Money for Facebook: Hong Kong Investor Adds $40M+ to StakeINSANITY: Facebook App Sells to TripAdvisor for $3 MillionFacebook Gets Another $500 Million?Multiply Reaches 5 Million UsersFacebook’s Massive Growth: Hits 30 Million UsersFacebook Claims to Lead in People Search
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